Tulips

We managed to catch the tail end of the tulip extravaganza at Hampton Court Palace this year, a soft alternative to the one at Wisley, having been put off this last by substantial road-works en-route and the probability of full car parks and considerable crowds on arrival. In the event, while some of the tulips were past their best, not to say over, there was still plenty to see.

Parked in the station car park on the other side of the river and walked across to the Palace, where we learned that the Palace car park had filled up within minutes of opening, uncertain weather notwithstanding. We were told that this was most unusual.

The next item was the front grass damaged by the ice skating rink of winter past being resown as a meadow, with all kinds of stuff, as well, I suppose, as some grass. Another fad sweeping across visitor attractions with a bit of spare ground.

Quite a lot of the tulips were in tubs rather than planted out, with the snap above above taken from the line-up in front of the new meadow.

Onto the Tilt Yard cafeteria for morning coffee, where the tulips were going over, but still looking pretty good. Pity about the outdoor art visible right - yet another fad sweeping across visitor attractions. I took my tea with a veggie version of a sausage roll, this last being rather too big for me, certainly as a mid-morning snack. Maybe three quarters of the price for half the length. Veggie taste much the same as the real thing, that is to say caterer grade sausage, but given away by the curious texture.

The Wellingtonia captured about a year previous and noticed at reference 2, was present, but was looking a bit thin, despite the recent rain. Maybe it had suffered during last year's hot dry summer.

A rare breed show in the margins of the Royal cabbage patch, quite a lot of which had been given over to tulips rather than cabbages, although, to be fair, there were still vegetables to be seen.

Past the buttercups in the Wilderness, left unmown to let the bulbs recover, and on to the East Terrace gardens, where BH was pleased to find a family of goslings in the canal.

Privy garden looking well, brightened up with a mixture of tulips and late daffodils.

The two sunken gardens also looking well, but quite different, one from the other.

Thought about pies, as on the occasion noticed at reference 1, but this time we were put off by the queue and headed off to Bridge Road instead, where we were able to admire the mistletoe last noticed at reference 3. Pizza Express full. Chinese shut lunchtime. Didn't fancy the pubs, only really wanting a snack.

So wound up in the café with the green shade, snapped above by Street View, a place we have used from time to time in the past. I took a beef roll, in which the beef was plentiful, properly damp and tender. Only slightly let down by the microwaved white baguette. Followed by a slice of Victoria sponge, not bad for a café, not too laden with sugary goo. Tea. All very satisfactory.

Incidentally, a place which appears to cater to locals, dogs and tourists. All very friendly. 

Interested to see this morning that at the time Google was going round with their camera, Devonports (of reference 4) were selling the three luxury apartments which had been carved out of the upstairs - following, according to Bing, planning permission for two being granted in 2019. River views all. I think the one in the roof is that snapped from reference 5 above. With the two front dormers below. The perfect bijou gaff for £550,000 or so. So well over half what we might get for our desirable suburban villa in nearby Epsom.

Just a few drops of rain during our outing, so slightly surprised on return to Epsom to find that there had been what looked like a sharp shower there.

PS: possibly the last post to be provided by my Microsoft telephone - never having worked out how the photo files or the OneNote files were organised. And I don't suppose I well ever get to find out about the Samsung equivalents, never mind bottoming them out.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/04/off-to-palace.html. The corresponding visit last year, just a couple of days adrift.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/04/wellingtonia-75.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/01/access-denied.html.

Reference 4: https://devenports.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://devenports.co.uk/properties/DVN210086.